Dixie, 1943–2006

Remembering a Doberman whose life mirrored The Bodyguard — before lightning struck.

Dixie, the longtime bodyguard for the Guatemalan pop star Jacinta "Jaycee" Pensacola, was one of the few female dogs to reach the top of her tough-guy trade. Tragically, a bolt of lightning claimed the Doberman's life outside Pensacola's Seattle manse this past Halloween night. She was 63 (in dog years).

Related Content

Reared near a Huntsville, Ala., creek by her mother, Shadow, and her stepfather, a three-legged beagle named Tripod, Dixie and her brother, Big Red, spent the bulk of their childhood playing on tire swings and throwing large boulders at passing cars. Half a continent away, Pensacola—then a teen sensation dubbed "the Gloria Estefan of Guatemala"—began notching chart-topping hits, among them "Loco Salsa" and "Bathe Me in Hot Chocolate Pudding, Baby," which was later covered by John Cougar Mellencamp.

One morning, Dixie killed a bullfrog while skipping rocks across the Tollhouse River outside Huntsville, and fled to São Paulo, where Pensacola happened to be playing a street festival. There, Dixie noticed that some fans were getting dangerously close to the young starlet. Dixie snuck backstage and offered her services as a bodyguard. A rattled Pensacola eagerly accepted.

The pair would go on to tour the world together for the better part of two decades. When an albino stalker attempted to decapitate Pensacola with a sword in Denmark, Dixie was there to save the singer, sinking her razor sharp teeth into the attacker's ball sack until he was apprehended by local authorities. And when various male suitors would grind too close to Pensacola's firm rump while she hit the clubs in St. Tropez, there was Dixie, leaping to corral them in a paw-lock and free the starlet up to seek more than just a one-night stand.

When Pensacola was past her prime, she moved to the Northwest, hired a full-time staff of servants, and pampered Dixie like she was the pet of her dreams. Then, lightning struck—literally—as Dixie, dressed up in a Catwoman outfit for Halloween, was felled in Pensacola's backyard by a searing, murderous bolt. She is survived by her brother, Big Red, who's still skipping rocks back in 'Bama.

If you would like your deceased pet to be considered for this space, please send a high-resolution 4-by-6 photo and brief description of his or her life to petcemetery@seattleweekly.com.